According to Yankovic, when he presented his lyrics to Jackson for review, he didn't know what kind of reaction he'd get. Jackson allegedly thought it was amusing, and agreed to allow the parody.[1] On October 19, 1989, the RIAA certified "Eat It" as a gold single.[2]

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The single reached number 1 in Australia, and it was his highest-charting US single on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 12 until "White & Nerdy" peaked at number 9 in October 2006.[3] "Eat It" earned Yankovic a 1984 Grammy Award in the Best Comedy Recording category.[4] "Eat It" also outranked "Beat It" in overall highest position on the Australian Aria Charts, with its highest rank being number 1, while "Beat It"'s highest is 3rd. As stated before, the RIAA certified "Eat It" as a gold single on October 19, 1989.[2]

The video for "Eat It" is styled as a shot-for-shot remake of Jackson's video for "Beat It", but with elements being parodied in various silly ways. The video also features a few of the same dancers from Jackson's video.[5] The video opens with a man in the cafe drinking his coffee when another man goes up to him and hits his back. The man then spits his drink out. The video then shows the Gang Members coming out of the drains and one is too fat too fit right through. The video then cuts to a man putting on a white jacket with a Smiley Face instead of a Dragon on the back of it and a man rips his girlfriend's head off, kisses her lips and gives the decapitated head to the man sitting next to her headless body. The video then shows Weird al laying on the bed with food all around him that has been opened and half eaten. Just as he sits up, the picture on the wall behind his bed falls off. The video then shows weird Al in a red jacket and black jeans just like what Michael Jackson wears in the Beat it Music Video. The next part of the video shows a man walking towards double doors when Weird Al opens the double doors and knocks the man out. He then becomes clumsy and knocks the Chairs over. It then shows Weird Al dancing around a pool table and he breathes into the camera fogging up the lens. The next part of the video then shows the gang members and two of them fight over a rubber chicken and Weird Al comes out and stops the fight. He the gives the two members two pieces of food. They all then join Weird Al dancing. The video the shows weird Al putting an antacid tablet in a glass cup and weird Al looks in the camera with werewolf eyes.